moe.down XII

This past weekend Mic and I made the trek to Mohawk, NY (aka moe.hawk) for the 12th annual moe.down festival. We left around supper on Thursday and somewhere along the way we decided to go all the way to the venue and queue up rather than do the usual Walmart sleepover. It was a great call as we landed ourselves a prime pole position for the opening Friday morning. The only draw back was, no sleep. As one can imagine, our fellow moe.rons were pumped and decided to party hard through the night by the side of their cars waiting for first light when they would open the pen and herd us in to the field/parking lot. The parking area was a little muddy from the recent fallout of Hurricane Irene but no worries for Mic and I as we were rolling JEEP style.

This was year 2 for moe.down at Gelston Castle and obviously they had listened to the fans' complaints and made a number of improvements. Larger parking area, improved roads and pathways, free hay wagon rides from parking to the top of the hill, a much larger camping area, a big screen between stages, and $5 showers. That said, Mic and I opted to avoid the rush to haul everything up to the camping area to score a site for the tent. The JEEP had already proved how comfortable (and dry) it could be so we decided to tailgate it all weekend. It was a brilliant move as the last day was a downpour followed by a mudfest, all of which we avoided. Winning!



Friday night's opener was Ween and as per usual Gene Ween stole the show with his strangeness and his voice. Thankfully it was not a repeat of what may have very well been his worst performance ever back in January for 3,000 Vancouver fans.


Saturday was another beautiful day. The annual afternoon set from moe. was light and fun with the highlight being the moe.ment that they brought up all the kids on stage to show off their costumes and crafts they made in the kids tent.



Saturday night brought TV on the Radio and 2 sets of moe.



Sunday started with a bit of rain and an impromptu shower for me (thank you Mother Nature) following by more sun and humidity... and more music.

Then came the storm. Finally the predicted forecast came to pass and the skies released a downpour. The Levon Helm Band wisely decided to push back their start as the skies were flashing with lightning and the sound of thunder never far behind. The man at the mic convinced the crowd to push back out of the kill zone, and rightfully so after three stage collapses this year one right here at Ottawa's Bluesfest. And of course, no weekend music festival is complete without a little impromptu mudslide (see pics at end).





Here's a little glimpse at some of the more colourful moe.rons. Enjoy.


Finally, it was only by luck that Mic and I managed to get out of the mud bath/parking area - JEEP or no JEEP. The cars were already jammed in at this point - some stuck in the mud, some slammed up against others as they tried unsuccessfully to navigate the slop. The tow trucks were useless until at least some vehicles (the few 4x4's) vacated the area and made space. Oh well, all part of the adventure.

Cheers and thank you moe. for another great .down.

moe.down at Moe.hawk, NY

[To skip directly to a slideshow of moe.down 11 photos, click here.]
moe.down XI
Gelston Castle - Mohawk, NY
Festival schedule

moe.down 2010 rocked it out this year. And to think that I very nearly skipped it... what a moe.ron.

As it turned out it wasn't until the very last possible minute that I finally decided to go for it. By Friday morning I had rented a car, packed up, and was driving straight south to Mohawk, NY for moe.down 11 (yeah, moe.hawk, how appropriate eh).

I arrived without a ticket and as I was waiting for the maintenance dude to fix the ATM, somebody started yelling "Tripper!" from the long line of cars. Enter Sean and Maria (and crew). Sweet. It was truly great timing (Sean lent me the cash) and an excellent start to the weekend.



After 10 years of moe.down at Turin, NY (Snowridge) this was a new location. Between the two my preference is obviously Turin - it's an hour closer and much more convenient in terms of proximity between camping, stages, and the parking lot. I do admit the views here at Gelston Castle are somewhat nicer but if it was views I wanted I'd be hiking another 46er in the ADK. For me it's about the music, the people, and the convenience and for that Turin gets my vote.

The weather forecast was sketchy but in the end it only rained the Friday night making for some very cool effects while moe. was jamming late into the night. I certainly got wet but I was by no means soaked.




The number of bands at moe.down this year were a little scaled down compared to previous years. I would have loved to have seen Perpetual Groove, Particle, Donna the Buffalo, Railroad Earth, and Nate Wilson added to the venue but instead they were on the list of attractions the week prior at the first (and doubtfully annual) Snowridge Jamfest aka moe.down's old location. Apparently it was a flop with only about 100 attendees (read news article here). That said, moe. still managed to nail down some solids with Grace Potter, Black Keys, Built to Spill, and Lotus among my personal highlights. Some of the smaller stage bands also impressed - Turbine, Orgone, The Brew to name a few.



And then there's Grace. Grace Potter not only rocks hard, she's extremely photogenic - she can even make a wanker with a cheap camera look like they have some talent. Thanks Grace, you were amazing. And no worries, just because I saw you a few months ago at Mountain Jam doesn't mean I'm stalking you. (Or does it?)



And finally moe., a band that never fails to impress. They played six sets and nearly 10 hours of pure jam adrenaline. Awesome. Thank you.







Cheers to the gang - Sean, Maria, Timmy, Nicole, Eric, John, Mark, Brad, Kate, Lewis, Heidi, Jessica, Jessie, Randy, Michelle. Thanks for a great weekend and see you next year eh...



PS: Check out a slideshow of photos here.